


Lake Ripples

by Genesis II Subject (flowerism)



Category: Darkest Powers - Kelley Armstrong
Genre: M/M, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD Mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 18:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5343299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerism/pseuds/Genesis%20II%20Subject
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ash can't sleep and neither can Rafe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lake Ripples

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fanfiction written for this fandom and I decided to dabble with a ship I rarely see (and, tbh, it's my OTP). If they seem totally OOC then please tell me and I'll add that to the tags! ^.^

The lake was silent as the blanket of darkness lay over the town, Ashton watching as the water rippled in the light breeze of late summer. The water shone from the moonlight, the clear sky untouched by big city lights. That was the norm for Badger Lake; the stars twinkled in the night sky and turned a light blue during the day. It would have been a nice sight if Ashton sat back to look at it, but instead his mind wandered and the little things he wouldn’t have been able to see while living on the streets passed by him without notice.

It still haunted him. No one knew, no one _needed_ to know, but it did. The homes he had been in, the one that drove him to run away, trying to fend for himself when everyone else his age was playing out with their friends. He wanted to forget – he had everything he could ever want now, and that was all that mattered – but he couldn’t. When he finally thought he could move on, _trust_ again, that little voice at the back of his head told him it wasn’t okay, that they were going to leave him like the others – like the woman he once called _Mom_.

His head thumped and if he listened closely, he could hear his blood pumping around his body. His eyes shut, lights flashing before him. Migraines weren’t a normal thing for Ashton, they were more Corey’s thing, but when sleep became harder and his breathing just wouldn’t slow, the lack of sleep he got became a problem, and mild migraines became an odd occurrence. They weren’t bad, they didn’t make him throw up or curl up in agony, but his head would hurt and all he would want to do is sleep.

He couldn’t.

The one person he did tell was someone he didn’t trust, but they connected on a personal level; Victoria Enright. She told him to calm down, it was nothing, and his mind was playing tricks on him – just _sleep_. If it was that easy, he wouldn’t have told her about his problem. He tried cutting things out of his diet, tried using the mobile he had received less, tried going to bed earlier. The same things woke him up when he started getting off, the same things got his heart racing; the thought he was younger, still alone, on the streets, in the cold.

The lake calmed him to an extent, being outside calmed him. He didn’t like being locked up in a room, suffocated with blankets and smothered with pillows. That wasn’t what he was used to, even after two years of it. The blankets were restraints and they choked him, they were death traps.

“You’re out late.” Ashton’s initial reaction to hearing a sudden voice was to get up and defend himself, but he come to his senses before he done such a ridiculous show of weakness, and sat still as though he hadn’t been affected. “Your sister know?”

“I ask her approval for everything.” It was a lie, clearly a lie.

“Does anyone know?” The question hung in the air for a moment or two, and when Rafael got the message Ashton wasn’t prepared to answer, he nodded, despite knowing Ashton’s back was to him. “I tell Annie where I’m going.”

“Oh, you’re too good for this world.” Ashton’s sarcasm was evident, almost dripping off of his snap.

The quiet returned and if Ashton couldn’t feel Rafael’s presence, he would have assumed he had left. Ashton should have trusted Rafael, they were equals, they were the _same_. Wolves trusted other wolves, sharks trusted other sharks, and lions trusted other lions; why couldn’t he trust Rafael? They had known each other long enough, Ashton should have warmed up to him by now, started a friendship with his sister’s ex-boyfriend.

“I don’t care about-.”

Ashton quickly interrupted him. “Good. Go away.”

Rafael growled. Not realistically, Derek done more realistic growls than Rafael, but he didn’t want it to be realistic. He was frustrated; Ashton won’t let him speak, not nicely to him. It was as if he was asking for an argument or a fight, and Rafael wasn’t in the mood for something like that. He wanted to leave, go home and sleep, but he couldn’t. Whenever he thought of leaving, he was reminded of _Annie_. If he was in that situation, alone watching water ripple, he would want someone to convince him to go home and stop his sister from worrying. Maya most likely hadn’t noticed Ashton gone, but there was _a_ chance – _that_ chance.

“No.”

“No?”

“No.” Rafael shook his head for the second time, but this time Ashton had turned his head to look at him. He didn’t look much different from how he usually looked; mouth neutral, eyes relaxed, hair framing his face. This time, Rafael noticed something different – apart from the obvious fact Ashton hadn’t brushed his hair, he looked tired. Unknown to Rafael, Ashton always looked like that, it was just no one ever took any notice.

Ashton’s eyes were on him, waiting for him to explain his refusal to go. Ashton didn’t need him and Rafael had no need to be at the lake himself, so there was no reason for him not to leave. Why he wasn’t asleep in the first place was beyond Ashton, but he didn’t care – he didn’t _want_ to care. There was that disturbing voice at the back of his head again, curiosity poking through where it was caged at the back of Ashton’s mind, the tedious question he had expected wriggling into his mind.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Ashton asked, his words betraying him, much like everything else did.

Rafael shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not tired. You?”

Ashton brushed off the question, avoiding it. “What are you doing here?”

Rafael opened his mouth to ask why Ashton had avoided the question, but he closed it. He might have been avoiding it now, but he couldn’t always avoid it. Rafael grinned. If Ashton could avoid a question, so could he. “Checking you out.”

“Wrong twin. That charm doesn’t work on me.”

Rafael’s charm _didn’t_ work on boys, sadly, but he was surprised that Ashton hadn’t noticed it wasn’t charm. Rafael hadn’t been checking Ashton out, how horrible would that have made him, prowling on someone in the dark, but he didn’t feel one ounce of guilt in the daytime. Ashton was attractive and he was only looking, it wasn’t as if Rafael was going to make a move when Ashton was quite obviously not interested.

Ashton rolled his eyes, turning his head towards the lake. “If you’re not going to leave, you might as well sit down. I don’t like your company, but at least it’s _something_.”

Rafael hesitated. It was late, he couldn’t be out too long, but the offer was something he couldn’t turn down. Ashton had no friends except for Victoria, and she couldn’t be classed as much of a friend. They talked, sure, but that was it. They didn’t do things like Maya and Chloe did, or even Derek and Daniel. Rafael couldn’t turn down the chance – possibly his _only_ chance – to find more out about Ashton.

Even if he found nothing out, it was at least better than _thinking of what he could have known_.


End file.
